This evening we watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean as we dined in Pelican Point Restaurant at Pismo Beach.


As we travelled out of Lompoc this morning we took a short detour to drive down this avenue of Italian Stone Pines for which the town is famous.


The hills around are very dry and brown but every so often we come upon a green valley and this is one covered with lines of regimented vines; a strange sight in such a dry area.

We drove through Pismo Beach, where we saw more RV's than we have ever seen before in one place. This is one stretch of coast where people are able to take their vehicles onto the beach and this is very popular. We saw dune buggies of all descriptions, cars, vans and there was even a big RV being towed across the sand.

We drove on to our hotel which is perched on the cliff top with this view of Pelican Bay and the coast further on.

We very soon found out why it is called Pelican Bay - there were hundreds of pelicans perching on the sheer cliff sides around and below the hotel. You could approach them and get quite close if you were careful, quiet and didn't mind the odour of fish.

The view in the opposite direction showed the beautiful fine sands of Pismo Beach with the pier in the distance.

In the afternoon we drove to the pier and spent several hours relaxing on the beach in the sunshine watching the big waves and the surfers. Alan found the waters of the Pacific Ocean rather cold here.

In the late afternoon we returned to the hotel and from our balcony watched the pelicans flying across the ocean.

Today has been a wonderfully relaxing day with the Californian weather back to normal.